... where 2015 is going to be a year to remember for the rest of our lives ...

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

recall governor walker

Unlike many voters, I am not a die-hard of the party I am
registered with (in my case, that would be the Democrat Party).

For starters, I am not pro-choice. I think both extremes are freaking insane in
the gun control debate. I strongly
believe in the current efforts to bring austerity to our local, state, and
federal governments. (Especially at the
federal level. Five more months
folks! Five more months until this
nation says “no mas!” to out of control spending, trillion dollar deficits, and
the expansion of the welfare state to Western European levels! Yes we can (get rid of Obama!) Yes!
We! Can!!!)

(And in case you think this is just an anti-Obama feeling ... no less a person than the most successful President of the last twenty five years is running around informing folks in Romney's campaign that "you have six months to save this country". When Bill Clinton is running around scared about a future under this guy, and last time I checked, the Clinton years were pretty prosperous and actually had a net positive effect on the Treasury, I tend to listen.)

Let me admit up front: for the most part, I support Governor
Walker’s efforts in Wisconsin. I firmly
believe in the words of Abraham Lincoln (and Bill Clinton) when it comes to
government involvement in my life: “I believe government should only do for the
people, what they cannot better do for themselves”.

And it is for that reason, that I support the recall against
Governor Walker. I support
austerity. I do not support Governor
Walker’s war on public sector unions.

I feel very strongly about this – I am the son of a public
sector union member. Two of them, in fact
– my dad was in the postal workers union (at least until becoming a member of
management), my mom a member of the NEA for thirty plus years. Governor Walker’s rationale that union
employees earn more than non-union employees, is absolutely right. It’s his intense desire to end that, that so
infuriates me.

How dare you sir? How
DARE you seek to lower the quality of life for millions of citizens, rather
than seek to raise the quality of life for all citizens? This, at its most basic, is why I could never
be a Republican. They’re a party for
whom the solution to everything is to either (a) lower the tax burden on the
most well-off among us, or (b) balance the budget by taking from the poorest
among us.

As noted before, I am the son of two public sector union
workers. It is solely because of their
hard work … and their union bosses and fellow employees fighting for better
wages, better benefits, better working conditions, that I was able to enjoy the
upbringing that I had. That I had a
world of opportunities opened to me. I may
have botched most of those opportunities, but at least I had them.

To see the Republicans assault on unions, quite honestly,
disgusts me, because they can’t even be honest about why they’re so adamant on
dismantling public sector unions. Look
it, let’s just be honest here – most union workers (and especially their
bosses) tend to vote Democrat. They tend
to give to Democrats. What Governor
Walker did, sure, was an attempt to balance the Wisconsin budget by using the
two typical tools Republicans use … but if he’d stopped there, at cutting the
top tax bracket rate and requiring union employees to contribute more to their
health care and pension? I was (and am)
totally on board with that. If private
sector employees are expected to swallow wage freezes, increased benefit costs,
and changing working conditions, then I’m fine with public sector employees
suffering the same.

But to go further, and stop allowing automatic collection of
union dues? To revoke public unions
right to collectively bargain? How does
that balance the budget, Scotty? What
the hell does a union collecting dues have to do with your $1.6 billion budget
deficit getting bridged?

The obvious answer, of course, is that it doesn’t. It’s just the latest battle in the Republican
war on unions, a disgusting war that needs to end yesterday.

Here’s an idea Scotty – if you need additional sources of
revenue? If you need to raise some funds
to balance your budget? How about you
target the most politically active non-profit agency(s) in America today, and
that is the Church. Both AME churches
(ATM machines for Democrats) and evangelical churches (ATM machines for
Republicans) are anything but non-political.
Make them pay for their sins by taxing them on their profits, by taxing
their lay persons’ salaries.

I know, I know, that sounds outrageous, right? Because no matter how partisan the preacher
and his pulpit are, there would be public outrage over taxing churches, and
deservedly so. The outrage you might
feel reading my belief that the time has come to tax these political
organizations fronting as religious outfits?
Is how I feel about Governor Walker’s attempt (fairly successful so far)
to destroy public unions in his state (and no doubt, inspire other Republican
leaders to attempt to do so on a national level.)

Public unions are not the enemy, Scotty. Rather, they are made up of your fellow
citizens, your fellow members of government.
They’re made up of hard-working, dedicated employees who make a
difference in the everyday life of everyone they have an interaction with. To treat these people as second-class
citizens, to view them as the problem?
Is outrageous. Absolutely
outrageous.

And it is why, if I had a vote today in Wisconsin, my vote
would be for Mayor Barrett to replace you.
You went too far sir. You made
this personal. You’re attempting to
right the state’s wrongs by punishing the very people you are counting on to
make the austerity measures work. For
that reason alone, you don’t deserve a second term, let alone the opportunity
to serve out your first.

(Oh who am I kidding, of course I voted today in
Wisconsin. I do have a D on my voter
card, after all, and last time I checked, Ed Schultz was reporting 119% turnout
in Madison. (stevo with befuddled look
on his face.) Uuh, how do you get above
100% turnout unless you’re cheating?!?! …

coming this week ...

About Me

(gavin degraw voice) I don't wanna be anything other than me ...
Well, I'm a Chiefs addict. Section 132 and 339 represent! I love the NBA (Go Bucks Go!) as well. I mostly lean left on social issues; I mostly lean right on economic issues; and I'm firmly in the center on matters of foreign policy. I'm 40, single, straight, white, male, Abercrombie's summer catalog's next centerfold, and somewhat insane. Other than that, I'm every girl's dream.